Stacker mechanism for coil springs



Feb. 28, 1950 c. G. coRsER 2,498,850

STACKER MECHANISM FOR COIL SPRINGS Filed Feb. e, 1948 4 a Sheets-Sheet 11950 c. e. CORSER 2,498,850

STACKER MECHANISM FOR- COIL SPRINGS Filed Feb. 6, 1948 a Sheets-Sheet 2Feb. 28, 1950 as. coRsER 'STACKER MECHANISM FOR 0011. SPRINGS Filed Feb.6/1948 3 Sheets-Sheet s I IHTHTIIMI 1 I Patented Feb. 28, 1950 $498,850STAGKER MECHANISM EOBKCOILSPBINGS GalvirrG. GorsemChicago, III},assignor' to John son Spring Guslii'on Company; Chicago,

corporation: offlllinois Applicationfehmary 6, 1948',,Seria[1N0. .6;652'

a. transfer. mechanism for advancing" the" coil springs from the coilingmechanism through-the knotter mechanisms to the stacker mechanism.Thestacker mechanism receivesthecoil springs from the transfer"mechanism and stacks' the same in conveniently handled" bundles:- Irr sostackingea'c'h coil.sprin'gis"telescopically received Within. each;previouslystacked spring;

Ithas been found-desirable*tostack'the springs in such manner 'that'the' knotted portions-'ofthe springs are. atthe forward part" of" the=springs as they' are" advanced; andteles'copically received inthe stackof springs: This greatly 'facilitat'esthe" stacking; However; many coilspring prodiicing machines do not accurateiy presentthe coil-springs"tothe stacker mechanism with"- the knotted portions of the springsleading so" that diiiiculty encountered in the stacking operation.

The principal obj ect' of this: inventiom therefore;- is to provide animproved stackerrmechanism for coil springs wherein the" coil springsare' received" from the coil" spring producing: ma-

chine, wherein the coil springs are accurately rotated t'o'a positionhaving'the: knotted-portions thereof i leading; and wl'iereim the-coilisprings/are advanced andtelescopically 'receivediini thePstack andwherein'tlie'stacktissadVanced?asscoilisprings.'

are addedithereto:

More specifically; it issan; obj 86h. offthis invention to: providetheimproyed stacker: mechanism with a pair-of spaced".side-.-plates,apair of-spaced discs-.rotatably'mountedsbetweemthe sideplatesion-receivin ,coilsprings.to bestackedand ionrotating'vthe. same tothe.desiredijposition and. a pair oi spacedfingersslidablymountedbetween the side. plates ion. ejecting. the rotated" coiLspringsirombetween thevdiscs, for. stacking, the. coil' springs betweenthe ingthe stacked coil springs" between the? side side plates and for;advancplates. The.discsand'fiiigers"aremovediin-timed reiation' andthe.discs'may also'berslidablymoved as well as rotatably moved? lllE, a:

Further objects of this invention reside in" the details of-constructi'o'n of the stacker mechanism and the cooperativerelationship between the component parts thereof.

Other objects and-advantagesofthis invention will become apparent tothose skilled" in" the art upon-reference to theaccompanyingspecification, claims and 'drawings in which:

Figure 1*is' adiagrammatic illustration of a coil' spring; producingmachine with the stacker mechanism ofthis inventionapplied thereto.

Figure Z'is a; composite-perspective view showing the positionof thecoil spring as it ispresented to the stacker mechanism and thepositiOHS'IOFth'GC'O'fl springs stacked by thestacker mechanism.

Figure 3 is a top plan view of thestacker mechanism;

Figurei is a verticalsectional' view "taken'substantial-ly-along theline 4 -4 of Fig. 3 and'showing" the parts in* one position.

Figure 5* is a; sectional View similar'to Fi'ge 4,

butshowingth'e' parts in another position;

Figure 6'- is a vertical sectional view'taken sub--stantiallyfialong'the'line 6 6 of Fig: 4, and

Fi'gurefi'i's a perspective view of one of the discs" and itsassociatedmechanism.

Referring first 'to' Fi'g. 1; a coil' spring producing'machineisgenerally-designated at In" and it maybe of the type shown and describedinthe aforementioned application. The machine Ill operates to producecQil' springs" I 'l 'such as shown in Fig"; 2', whereinthe' ends ofthesprings are knotted-as at I21 The end" convolutions' of the springsmay, also, be provided; if desired; with offsets IS;

The coil springproducing machine l 0 includes a coilingmechanisnr- ISfOr coilingwire intovthe double-ended" coil spring I I When'the coilspring is thusformed, it is grasped by fingers l6, carried='by=aradia1"arm= i T of a transfer: mechanism l8 "which isintermittentlyrotated" through a Geneva" motion (not shown) by= a'rotary shaft I 9.The transfer" mechanism l8=3inc1udes=av plurality of such' radial" armsI and fingers IQ for grasping-andtransferring i-the coil springsa's theyare formed by the coiling-mechanism. The coil springs thus-formed" areadvancedto a: knotting mechanism ZWwherein oneend. ofthe coil spring-is'"knotted, andifdesii'edlcrimped' intolan offset: The coil springsare=-then advanced to; a secon d k'n'otting mechanism =2 wherein theother end of the coil spring is knotted and may-also be= crimped intoanoifset; The. knotted coil 55 springsarethen advanced 15ythe=transf enmechanism to the stacker mechanism of this invention generallydesignated at 22. Since the coil producing machine diagrammaticallyillustrated in Fig. 1 is fully disclosed in the aforementionedapplication a further description thereof is not necessary.

As will be noted in Fig. 2, the coil springs l l are advanced along thepath of the arrow A into the stacker mechanism 22 with the knots l2being located on the upper side of the spring. In order to stack thecoil springs in the most expeditious manner the coil springs are rotatedabout their axes in the direction indicated by the arrow B so that theknots of the springs are at the forward parts thereof as they are movedinto the stack. Thus, the springs as they are advanced in the stackermechanism are readily telescopically received in the stack of springs asindicated in Fig. 2.

The stacker mechanism 22 includes a bottom plate 24 and side plates 25and 2B. The bottom plate 24 terminates at 27 to permit coil springs tobe inserted between the side plates 25 and 2'6 by the transfermechanism. I8. Converging guides 23 extending downwardly from the sideplates operate to guide the springs as they are fed to the stackermechanism and to compress the same between the side plates.

Each of the side plates 25 and 26 are provided with a longitudinal slot30 for slidabl receiving a pin 3|. The pin 3! associated with the sideplate 25 carries a disc 32 and the pin 3| associated with the side plate26 carries a disc 33. The discs 32 and 33 are thus spaced from eachother and are located within the side plates 25 and 25. When the coilsprings are fed to the stacker mechanism under the guidance of theconverging guides 28 they are interposed between the discs 32 and 33with the knots of the springs being located upwardly. In this respectthe spacing between the guides 28 at their upper ends is substantiallyequal to the spacing between the discs 32 and 33. The pins 3| extendoutwardly through slots 34 in levers 35 and 35, which in turn are keyedto a shaft 31 rotatably mounted in opposed brackets 38 and 39. In thisway the levers 35 and 35 are connected to oscillate together and whenthe levers oscillate they move the pins 3| longitudinally along theslots 30 for imparting longitudinal movement to the discs 32 and 33. Thediscs are thus moved from the receiving position as indicated in Fig. 4to the ejecting position as indicated in Fig. 5, the extent of suchsliding movement being determined by the length of the slots 3|].

As indicated in Figs. 4, 5, and '7 the discs 32 and 33 are each providedwith a radial groove 4! for receiving blocks 42 which are pivoted bypins 43 to the side plates 25 and 25. Thus as the discs 32 and 33 areslidably moved by the levers 35 and 35 the slots 4!, blocks 42 and pivotpins 43 cause the discs to rotate simultaneously. As will be seen fromFigs. 4 and 5, the discs are rotated through substantially 90 as theyare moved between the receiving position and the ejecting position. Inthis way the coil springs H which are interposed between the discs 32and 33 are advanced by the sliding movement of the discs and are rotatedby the rotar movement thereof so that when the springs arrive at theejecting position as illustrated in Fig. the knots l2 of the springs Hare at the forward side of the 4 for slidably receiving a shoe 41. Abracket 48 is secured to the shoe 41 and in turn carries a depending arm49 provided with a slot 50. The slot receives a pin 5| carried by alever 52 which is loosely journaled on the shaft 31. The lever 52 is inturn provided with a slot 53 for adjustably receiving a pin 54 connectedto one end of a link 55, the other end of which is pivoted at 56 to acrank arm 51 carried by the power shaft IQ of the coil producing machineID. Thus, as the coil producing machine It operates to form coils andadvance the same, the power shaft I9 through the link 55, lever 52 andarm 49 imparts sliding motion to the bracket 48 and shoe 41, this motionbeing in timed relation with the operation of the coil spring producingmachine I 0.

The bracket 48 carries a plate 60 which in turn carries a dependingfinger GI and also a plate 62 which in turn carries a depending finger63. The fingers GI and 63 are therefore spaced from each other and arelocated inwardly of the discs 32 and 33. By reason of this spacing thefingers 3| and 63 are permitted to sweep across the faces of the discs32 and 33 to eject coil springs from between the discs 32 and 33 whenthe discs are moved to the ejecting position shown in Fig. 5.

The shoe4l carries an abutment 55 adapted to be engaged by the lever 35.A spring 65 is hooked to the lever 35 as at 6? and to a post 68 carriedby the bottom plate 24. The spring 65 therefore presses the lever 35into engagement with the abutment 65 to form a spring biased one wayconnection between the shoe 4! and the lever 35 and hence between thespaced fingers BI and 63, and the spaced discs 32 and 33.

With the parts in the position shown in Fig. 4, the fingers 6| and B3are retracted and the discs 32 and 33 are also retracted by reason ofthe spring biased one way connection. The parts are thus in thereceiving position. The transfer mechanism of the coil spring producingmachine then inserts a coil spring between the discs 32 and 33 asillustrated in Fig. 4. The fingers El and 63 are then caused to advanceand as the fingers are advanced the spring biased one way connectionadvances the discs 32 and 33 to the ejecting position at the ends of theslots 39 as illustrated in Fig. 5. Further motion of the discs isarrested at this point. Thus the coil springs II are advanced by thesliding movement of the discs and are rotated by the rotating movementthereof. Following the arrest of the movement of the discs, the fingers6! and 63 continue to move for sweeping the coil spring from between thediscs and for telescopically inserting the coil spring into the stack ofsprings. As springs are continued to be fed to the stack of springs thestack of springs is automatically advanced between the side plates 25and 26 by the feeding action of the fingers 6! and 63. Because thespacing between the discs 32 and 33 is less than the space between theside plates 25 and 26 proper telescopic feeding of each spring into thestack of springs is assured. Also, because the springs are rotated bythe discs to cause the knotted portions thereof to be at the forwardpart of the springs, the springs are readily received in the stack.

While for purposes of illustration one form of this invention has beendisclosed, other forms thereof may become apparent to those skilled inthe art upon reference to this disclosure, and

therefore, this invention is to be limited only by the scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A stacker mechanism for coil springs comprising a pair of spaced sideplates, a pair of spaced discs slidably and rotatably mounted betweenthe side plates for receiving coil springs to be stacked and foradvancing and rotating the same, a pair of spaced fingers slidablymounted between the side plates for ejecting the rotated coil springsfrom between the discs, for stacking the coil springs between the sideplates and for advancing the stacked coil springs between the sideplates, and means for slidably and rotatably moving the discs and forslidably moving the fingers in timed relation.

2. A stacker mechanism for coil springs comprisin a pair of spaced sideplates, a pair of spaced discs rotatably mounted between the side platesfor receiving coil springs to be stacked and for rotating the same,a-pair of spaced fingers slidably mounted between the side plates forejecting the rotated coil springs from between the discs for stackingthe coil springs between the side plates and for advancing the stackedcoil springs between the side plates, and means for rotatably moving thediscs and for slidably moving the fingers in timed relation.

3. A stacker mechanism for coil'springs comprising a pair of spaced sideplates, a pair of spaced discs slidably and rotatably mounted betweenthe side plates for receiving coil springs to be stacked and foradvancing and rotating the same, a pair of spaced fingers slidablymounted between the side plates for ejecting the I rotated coil springsfrom between the discs, for stacking the coil springs between the sideplates and for advancing the stacked coil springs between the sideplates, means for slidably moving the discs and fingers in timedrelation, and means including stationary pins and radial grooves in thediscs for rotating the discs as they are slidably moved.

4. A stacker mechanism for coil springs comprising a pair of spaced sideplates, a pair of spaced discs slidably and rotatably mounted betweenthe side plates for receiving coil springs to be stacked and foradvancing and rotating the same, a pair of spaced fingers slidablymounted between the side plates for ejecting the rotated coil springsfrom between the discs, for stacking the coil springs between the sideplates and for advancing the stacked coil springs between the sideplates, means for slidably moving the fingers, a spring biased one wayconnection between the fingers and the discs for slidably moving thediscs as'the fingers are moved, stops for limiting the movement of thediscs, and means for rotating the discs as they are slidably moved.

5. A stacker mechanism for coil springs comprisin a pair of spaced sideplates, a pair of spaced discs slidably and rotatably mounted betweenthe side plates for receiving coil springs to be stacked and foradvancing and rotating the same, a pair of spaced fingers slidablymounted between the side plates for ejecting the rotated coil springsfrom between the discs, for stacking the coil springs between the sideplates and for advancing the stacked coil springs between the sideplates, means for slidably moving the fingers, a spring biased one wayconnection between the fingers and the discs for slidably moving thediscs as the fingers are moved, stops for limiting the movement of thediscs, and means including stationary pins and radial grooves in thediscs for rotating the discs as they are slidably moved.

CALVIN G. CORSER.

REFERENCES CITED Name Date Number Ziler Feb. 3, 1931

